I am a nurse at a LTC facility. We have anywhere between 30-35 patients on the hall. Two nurses. We have 2 CNAs typically for the hall. There are a lot of total care residents that require 2 CNAs. When we only have 2 CNAs on the hall, the nurses are constantly having to do the CNAs job of helping with transfers, ADLs, recording intake/output, BMs, making/changing beds, getting residents up and toileted before meals, assisting with showers, answering call lights, serving meals, feeding residents that cannot feed themselves, etc. Not that us nurses mind helping, but we are struggling to accomplish our own medication passes and documentation. We are lucky if we have a CNA that is able to come to work on time. A lot of days, our CNAs are an hour or more late, arriving when breakfast is being served, meaning that the nurses are then responsible to get all of the residents up out of bed prior to breakfast, serve breakfast, and attempt to get all of our vital signs, assessments, and morning medication pass done. Then, following breakfast the same CNAs that were late have the nerve to ask us if they can go outside for a 15-20min break. The nurses are never able to get breaks according to them apparently. I am wondering, Is this like this at all facilities? I am not trying to complain about giving care to residents but when the nurses are unable to do their job and are worried about missing changes of condition or administering the wrong medications due to being in a hurry to complete tasks, I feel like it is becoming a problem. We are unable to delegate to the CNAs because they are already putting us behind and do not do it when asked. Management has been notified and are aware but are choosing not to do anything about it, constantly making excuses for their behavior.
